Black Bean & Bulgur Wheat Feta Salad

Canned food can be a life saver. This black bean & bulgur wheat feta salad uses a variety of tinned and jarred goods. It’s a quick, tasty and nutritious salad which works well both as a main meal or light lunch. It’s also ideal for packed lunches, picnics and buffet style meals.

Lots of Lovely Tins

Growing up in a Cornish cottage, just outside of the village, the importance of having a well stocked larder was something drummed into me from an early age. Canned food, with its long shelf life, was ideal and I don’t ever remember a time when there wasn’t a cupboard full of tinned tomatoes. It was my job, when new ones were bought, to bring the oldest to the front and put the newest to the back to ensure the tins never passed their use by date. Tinned tomatoes have played an important role as one of my larder staples ever since, along with canned beans and coconut milk. And where would I be without a handy tin of baked beans to put in my Granny’s Shepherd’s Pie?

How amazing it must have been, way back when canning was invented, for people to have access to seasonal food all year round. Canned Food UK is a not for profit organisation which promotes the benefits of tinned food. Although we tend to forget about it as we reach for a store cupboard stalwart, the canning process means that the nutrients are locked in, making canned food, healthy as well as convenient and affordable.

Canned Food Week

This week, 30th March to 5th April, is Canned Food Week and to mark the occasion I have made one of the recipes from the seven healthy eating plans created especially by nutritionist Amanda Hamilton. Getting people into the kitchen and preparing their own food, is one of the best ways of encouraging healthier eating. These eating plans contain recipes that are simple and convenient to make, but are tasty and healthy too. There is one to suit all types of people including students, the elderly and families with young kids. This recipe came from the Healthy Eating Plan for all occasions. I was provided with the necessary ingredients to make the recipe. So, all I had to do was hunt for my tin opener.

Black Bean & Bulgur Wheat Feta Salad

The recipe for black bean & bulgur wheat feta salad was really quick and easy to put together. I made it in about 15 minutes. As is usually the case with me, I altered it slightly by soaking the bulgur wheat in hot water for a few minutes, rather than in cold water overnight. I like the idea of no ‘cooking’ required and rather wish I’d been a bit more organised and got the bulgur soaking the night before. As it happened, I didn’t have any parsley in the house, so I grabbed a large bunch of chives from the garden and used those instead. CT is one of the unfussiest eaters I know, but he’s not too keen on beetroot for some reason. So instead of using a whole jar in the salad, I only used half of it.

I had some of the salad for lunch and it was both tasty and satisfying. I was more than happy to have it again for supper. There was even enough left over to go into the fridge for another day. This is my idea of killing several birds with one stone. It’s the sort of thing I would have loved as a packed lunch for work, as it makes a nice change from sandwiches. The variety of colours made the salad look particularly appealing and it had good contrasting tastes and textures too: crunchy, chewy, soft, sweet, tangy and salty. I shall be making this again for sure, although CT did whisper rather plaintively, “could you perhaps leave out the beetroot next time?”

Mix the maple syrup, vinegar and olive oil together then season with sea salt and black pepper, pour over the salad and mix so that all the salad is covered in dressing.

Add the parsley and chives and mix once more then season really well.

Divide between serving plates and crumble the feta cheese over the top.

Recipe Notes

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They're approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this black bean & bulgur wheat feta salad, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or via social media. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them. For more delicious and nutritious recipes, follow me on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram or Pinterest.

I was sent the ingredients for this recipe by Canned Food UK. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.

Anita-Clare Field

4th April 2015 at 10:29 am

This knocks the spots of any pudding, It’s the kind of food I could cheerfully eat for lunch everyday. I am breaking with tradition tomorrow and having salads with our rack of lamb, I am going to give this a go. Happy EAster 🙂

I’ve been using lots of Feta recently! Once the lighter evenings get here it sort of propels me towards Summer. Sadly though we can’t eat bulgar wheat any more….. that darned gluten! Still, there are lots of alternative grains that would substitute well. I reckon Quinoa would do well here?!

Connect with me

Hello, I’m Choclette. I’m a vegetarian whole food recipe developer. I have a sweet tooth and a passion for baking and chocolate. Welcome to my award winning blog. Here you will find nourishing home cooked food with a twist as well as wholesome foodie tales.